BOOKS

I used to read only one book at a time.....yeah that isn't the case anymore
Here are the books I'm reading through at the moment!

FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING

I started reading this one over the summer of 2025 and then completely stopped at the exact halfway point. I'm trying to get back into it, and I'm really enjoying it so far! I love the way it's written, it's not really like anything else I've ever read, even other fantasy books with similarly flowery language. Bold of me to tell you that a book in the Lord of the Rings series is good, I know.

FEAR AND LOATHING ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL '72

Really good shit. Usually politics bore me to no end, but Thompson's writing and the time period really interest me. It's more restrained than the other things I've read by him, which admittedly isn't much ("Kentucky Derby" and "F&L in Las Vegas"), but Thompson's style and status as a semi-outsider in a lot of political situations--writing for Rolling Stone and being known for F&L in Las Vegas--makes it endlessly engaging. It's also very disjointed, which sounds like a bad thing, but really reads as a collection of notes from each day he's on the campaign trail, which makes it easy to pick up and put down. It's a glimpse into an America that may no longer be here, but still has the problems we deal with today.

IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT GODS

Reading this makes me feel like I AM Art Bell of Coast to Coast AM fame. I read "Chariots of the Gods" by the same author a few months ago, and it's very silly, but this is even sillier. I really like pre-Covid conspiracy theories, because they have a certain element of whimsy to them that modern conspiracies don't have. Artifacts that represent a higher level of thechnological understanding than what is commonly attributed to an area? Must be a time-traveling alien. A depiction of a figure with wings, or consistent drawings of humans and creatures across civilizations? Must be drawings of their space suits. The land and sea looks smaller from above? They must have taken Gilgamesh on a spaceship. All of this is with a backdrop of the author claiming that any criticism of his work is simply because he has a different opinion from the scientific community, and DEFINITELY not because his ideas have very little scientific backing. Ever since playing TIMELAPSE I haven't been the same, and stupid shit like Atlantis and mysterious ancient civilizations have been endlessly fascinating to me.

A CROWN OF SWORDS

Seventh book in the Wheel of Time series, and really this series feels like a warm blanket to me now. This series has been with me through literally all of the turmoil in my life, and watching these characters evolve over several books is so interesting and comforting to me. It's already better than the last two, and things actually get going almost right away. The sixth book was a little underwhelming, but the seventh book is paying off a lot of the setups introduced in that book. Jordan's prose is something I tried to emulate for so long but realized I just can't. His words flow like a stream and pages fly as a result. I'm a fairly slow reader, but with the way his passages are constructed, I can get through twenty-plus pages in a single short sitting, and for me, that's a lot. It's good for nowadays, when I don't really find the time to read all that often. Every time I chip away a little more, I feel even more excited to read further, and will often save chapters for days where I want a little treat.

VIDEO GAMES

I have been getting back into video games lately (Steam Spring Sale my beloved) which has been wonderful
Here are the games I'm playing through at the moment!

THE WHEEL OF TIME

Dude when I saw this on GOG I shit my fucking pants, I forgot all about this game until I saw it. I just started playing it and holy freaking moly it's so awesome. It's so cool to be playing as an Aes Sedai, even though the way that they use ter'angreal aren't technically consistent with how they are in the books (at least to my understanding), but it's still awesome. It's made on the first Unreal Engine so everything is super vibrant and also very grimy. Plus, you get to play as a bad bitch. Finally, a videogame character I can relate to!

DINO CRISIS

A game I picked up from the Steam Spring Sale. I got really excited because all the classic Capcom PS1 games got added to steam, and I've always wanted to play Dino Crisis. It's a lot of fun to play, again I'm not too far in it, but god damn it's so cool. I love the way the environments are built. Everything outdoors exists in a black void, a warping environment with a treeline existing only in the foreground, while the indoors are claustrophobic corridors with cool environmental details in every corner. It's so fun to play through and I can't wait to play it again. Plus, you get to play as a bad bitch. Finally, a videogame character I can relate to!

HYPNOSPACE OUTLAW

I'm replaying this one after it took over my life last year, and damn it's even better than I remember. I have found even more things in this game than I ever knew were here, and I'm not even that far in my second playthrough. I'm reading more of everything and taking in the universe and it's so comforting and fun. It's part of what inspired this website, and entirely what inspired SK1FREE! It's the kind of game that I wish I could have made. Every single aspect about it is handled with such care and such skill that, even when I'm just browsing around in the game, it's never boring. Also, you get to play as a bad bitch. Finally, a videogame character I can relate to!

OTHER SHIT

This is where I'll put the other things, like TV/Movies/Albums/etc that I've been consuming lately!

CRUSADE

I'm only a few episodes into this, as I haven't had much time to watch TV lately, but DAMN it's pretty fucking good! It's the sequel series to Babylon 5, which if you know me, you know that Babylon 5 is like one of my favorite pieces of media EVER, so it's got a lot to live up to. It definitely has a different feel than Babylon 5, which is good! I like how it's relying on different characters with different situations, we get to see more of the world which we only saw glimpses of on Babylon 5. Basically, the plot is that a plague has been released on Earth that will kill everyone there in five years. They know that the virus is ancient and therefore must have a cure somewhere in the universe, so it's the characters' job to help search for it. Whereas B5 was able to tell its stories of interpersonal conflicts within an enclosed space, or within the systems in place in it's universe, the characters in Crusade have to follow leads to figure out where to go, opening up the possibilities for stories in a really cool way. It also lacks a lot of the fucking awful humor that was a hallmark of JMS's writing for much of early (and even later) B5, which I am incredibly grateful for. Instead of focusing on the flimsy characters of early B5 that took a while to be fleshed out, the stories in Crusade rely more on exploring a novel world, with little character developments thrown in that add to the richness of the world. In that sense, I guess it's more like Star Trek than B5 ever was, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Also, it gives me more of the B5 world beyond what was shown in B5, which I am always grateful for.